The volume of mail and other documents handled daily by large businesses, institutions and governmental entities has steadily increased through the years. For example, credit card companies, utilities, mail order houses and other advertisers send and receive huge quantities of mail daily. Typically, the documents or envelopes containing the material to be mailed are addressed and then sorted into common groups for mailing. Similarly, mail received by such entities is commonly sorted into groups based upon the subject matter of the received material. A third category of such envelopes are the returned mail category the creation of which is primarily due to the addressee having moved from a particular address resulting in the envelope being undeliverable. The present invention is a system directed to the solution of this latter type of problem, namely, the correction of the address that will permit its proper delivery.
Several different types of machines have been developed to assist in the handling of such mail, other than manual review and correction by the individual mail carrier. These prior art devices typically comprised an envelope feeder, a read station, a selection of label station where a supply of labels permitter selection of an appropriate label and its application to an envelope, and a sorting and storage means.
None of these prior art machines and systems proved satisfactory since they were large unwieldly machines that required not only a large amount of space but also required frequent replenishment of a vast array of pre-printed label supplies and applicating equipment.
The contemplated system provides a unique computer- operator controlled system with a plurality of unique stations that are suitable for use with conventional mail sorting machines as well as other document handling equipment.
The system includes a feeder module wherein incoming documents or envelopes are separated from each other and delivered to a unique transport module. The present invention relates to that unique transport module which moves the individual envelopes or documents sequentially to a plurality of "read" stations; observation means, then can be audible, visual, or tactile, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor, conveniently disposed for operator observation; and correction means, such as an input keyboard means tied to a main computer data source, for use and control by an operator.
Observation of indicia by the operator and selective input into the keyboard means results in an electable response by the operator, the elected information then being sent to a print module for use in creation of an appropriate corrective means.
The unique transport module generally includes a plurality of stations in each of which the operator has an unobstructed view of the entire side surface of the envelope while reading the address or other identifying data thereon. Once the address or zip code has been ready by the operator, the operator makes a codified entry which is processed by the computer, with which the machine is associated, and into which computer the changes of address have been introduced on a frequent periodic basis. If the limited information introduced by the operator is applicable to more than one individual addressee, alternatives will be displayed to the operator for the operator to choose from. The information so chosen is then forwarded to the next module and the envelope or document released for movement along the various stations in the transport module and thence out of the operators visual range serially into the next module.
Another object of the invention is to provide a document forwarding system of the type contemplated that includes this improved transport module within the system that will reliably operate over extended time parameters with minimal down times, as well as being relatively simple and economical to construct and operate.
Other and further objects of this invention, together with all of the features of novelty appurtenant thereto, will appear in the course of the following description.